To answer your question about the Grimm brothers, it would (and in fact does) take a whole book - in brief, as fairy tales became more for children (they started out as adult entertainment), the fairy tales were seen as ways to socialize children, to civilize them into the kind of adults that the tellers wanted them to be. There is a great difference in the way stories are told in the original 1812(I think) edition than how they're told in the 1850s edition.

In general, my stories do have messages, but they're more things like "don't be afraid of the dark" or "don't make too many assumptions." one story even has the message that you should be careful doing your research <g>. Other stories are just for fun, and it's interesting to me to see which reviewers do and don't pick up on my intentions. I have a very strong humanist outlook, and that can't help but creep into even my lighter-weight stories.

Some of their bowdlerizing might have been to standardize the tales (a lot of them had many variations I understand) and to make them more acceptable as fairy tales for their market. And back then society was a lot more patriarchal than it is now. Of course they weren't the only ones to alter the tales either. Disney tweaked them when the cartoons were made.

Granted, but you also have to consider why they are putting their own spin on things. Is it to entertain? Is it to promote a political agenda? etc. The reason for putting a given spin on things is at least as important as the nature of the spin itself I think.

You know, I really don't think so, as long as it's it's the writer choosing to send the message. I was thinking along these lines above, when I asked why the Grimms made those changes.

But whether it's fluffy and non-contentious "love conquers all" message for entertaiment only, or whether it's a full on Ayn Rand philosophical statement, the reader will either relate to the message or not, like the message or not. The reason behind it doesn't change that one whit, and the reader is unlikely to know the reason in any case.

And personal integrity aside, really, the only reasons it even matters if it's the writer's choosing, as opposed to trying to send someone else's message is that 1, it likely won't be as good if they are putting someone else's message down against their own belief, and 2, it might stand out a 'wrong' as compared to the writers other works and cause a schism in the audience.